Readers will remember that I went to Lucha in Fudo Dori not long after it opened. The food was quite mediocre, but I've since heard that there have been drastic improvements. Just as I was thinking of giving it another shot, I heard they opened a sister store, Lucha Black, in Albert Lane, next to Vapiano. Last weekend we made plans with a few friends to check it out.
It was really lucky we called ahead to make a reservation as the place was completely full. It seems to me that hospitality is really doing quite well given the number of places we have to go to that can't even accommodate walk ins anymore. Anyway, we were seated quickly and service was fast. We had pre ordered the duck as they needed an hour of prep time beforehand and we just added a couple of other dishes to share.
There was a good range of cocktails and drinks but only one friend opted for the beer.
Our duck was served over three courses, this was the peking duck with pancake. It was fresh and hot, the crispy skin was sliced off in front of us and there were a good number of pieces and it wasn't overly fatty. Unfortunately the pancakes took quite a while to come out and the skin had cooled significantly by the time we were able to have it.
Second course was the San Choy Bao, with stir fried duck meat with some veggies wrapped in a lettuce leaf. The meat was seasoned well with savoury dark soy and had a touch of spiciness from the peppers. The lettuce leaf was crispy and fresh. I could definitely have done with seconds.
Third course was the roast duck fried rice. The portion was a bit small and we only had a small bowl each, but at least there was a generous duck to rice ratio, there was still quite a bit of duck skin to go with the meat and it was also infused with a decent amount of duck fat to fry the rice. I quite enjoyed it.
We had a couple of other dishes to share. This was the signature Lucha Roast Chicken. It was the same as the one they have in their Fudo Dori store, however this time it was executed quite well. The chicken didn't have much of a crisp skin but the meat was well seasoned and infused with green tea flavour, the added dipping sauce provided good enhancement and it wasn't overly dry.
We also had a dish of stir fried pork intestines which a few of us really liked but didn't go down well with everyone else. I liked the chewy pork intestines with its distinct rubbery but meaty texture. The flavours of pepper and soy were strong, masking the porky flavours, it would have gone well with rice.
Our last dish was a crowd pleaser, Braised Tofu and Pork Belly. The decorative pot was very big but the portion wasn't. There was about a half half ratio of tofu and pork belly which suited us fine. It was doused in a light oyster sauce base with soy, the tofu was deep fried before braising and the pork belly was roasted. I definitely really enjoyed this dish.
Taste: 8/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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